Sir Ken Robinson- Changing Paradigms in Education

I am a big fan of the lecture series TedTalks (www.Ted.com/talks). I first heard about Dy/Dan (AKA: Meyer) from the Ted lecture. Intellectual cotton candy... indulge your sweet tooth every once and a while... check them out.

I find this particular video very interesting (which is an animated adaption from a tedtalk of Sir Ken). The first time I watched it I must admit... it made my blood boil! Like many of the people on this forum, I've dedicated my life to preparing kids for what they will need to be successful in their future. In short, I got into this business to "make a difference". Sir Ken pokes fun and uses every stereo type he can (in particular, to math as being the most boring topic on the planet) to tell me everything I am doing is wrong.

But the more I watched it, the more I decided that he makes several good points. Of course we are on the cusp of a changing paradigm in education and no one knows where to go next. To some the solution is in the use of computers for self-paced hyper-differentiated (although impersonal) instruction... others have a mild ideas about tweaks to the current educational system... others feel the solution starts with dismantling the current education system!

I'm not exactly sure what Sir Ken is suggesting. He seems to spend most of his time painting a picture of what we have an then makes a few mild suggestions of how things "should" be.

I do know that I couldn't disagree with him more about his views on ADHD and his tongue-n-cheek description of an ideal ("do what your good at") education system seemed to lack any mention that schools provide job readiness skills... or the fact that sometimes in order to grow we need a gentle push out of our comfort zone.

Hey leave a message on this post... I'd be interested in others thoughts on this video.